Women-only cycling event proves it’s not just for girls

Dawn Renton

A national man hunt is currently underway to identify three sheepish looking blokes who pedalled their way into Macmillan Cycletta Scotland back in July – which is intended only for women.

The three men, caught on camera by a bystander at the start line of the 100km distance, managed to spin past organisers to take part in the event which was launched in 2011 in a bid to get more women taking part in the sport.

Now in its fourth year, the growth of the Macmillan Cycletta series reflects a dramatic influx of women into the sport with over 10,000 women taking part in a cycling event in the UK.

The addition of men taking part, however, is entirely unexpected.

Gillian Daly, senior PR manager at Macmillan Cycletta, said: “Macmillan Cycletta is the UK’s leading women-only sportive and has proved a hit with many women, from cycling novices entering the cycling arena for the first time, to more seasoned cyclists with distances up to 150km.

“Clearly our success has caught the attention of the male cycling fraternity, and they are now sneaking into women-only cycling events on the weekend! We have no idea who they are, why they had decided to take part or even if they made it over the finish line, but we do know they were caught on camera by a bystander looking awfully sheepish. We’d love to know what motivated them to take part and we’d really like them to get in touch with us.”

As well as three men, this year it is expected that almost five thousand women will take part in Macmillan Cycletta events across the UK, many of them choosing to raise vital funds for Official Charity Partner, Macmillan Cancer Support in the process. With two more events taking place during this month; Beaulieu Palace in the New Forest on September 20, and the Tatton Park, Cheshire on the 27th, organisers are hoping there will be no more breaches of protocol from the so-called MAMIL (Middle Aged Men In Lycra).

The Macmillan Cycletta website offers a host of information on training, race day advice and bike maintenance. There is also an active Twitter account (@cycletta) and www.facebook.com/cycletta resources to encourage participants to stay up-to-date with the latest news and developments.

To book your place visit: www.cycletta.co.uk

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